St. Macarius’s Faltaous al-Makary hospitalized due to leg gangrene

CAIRO – 21 August 2018: Monk Faltaous al-Makary who is charged with murdering Bishop Epiphanius of St. Macarius Monastery in Wadi El-Natrun was hospitalized on Tuesday, August 21, due to a degraded case of gangrene in the leg.

Makary who tried to commit suicide earlier in August was reported to be suffering from nervous shock and refused to speak to anyone including the police forces investigating the incident.

Makary, a monk in his mid-thirties, entered the St. Macarius Monastery for the first time in 2010 among a batch appointed by late Pope Shenouda III, trying to change the monastery monks’ thoughts that were highly affected by Matthew the Poor's principles.

CAIRO - 6 August 2018: Faltaous al-Makary, a monk in his mid-thirties, tried to commit suicide inside St. Macarius Monastery in Wadi El-Natrun on Monday, according to a source in the church who refused to give a name. The monk cut his wrist and then jumped off a high building inside the monastery.

On July 29, Bishop Epiphanius was found dead and covered in blood. The preliminary security investigation suggested that Bishop Epiphanius was hit by a sharp object. The body of the bishop was transferred to the morgue of the Wadi El-Natrun Central Hospital.

Following the mysterious murder, Pope Tawadros II ordered to stop accepting monks in all Coptic Orthodox monasteries in Egypt for a year starting August 2.

On August 5, the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria ordered stripping Monk Ash'eyaa al-Makary of his sacerdotal rank for committing “inappropriate” actions which contradicted the monastic behavior and life.

Later in the same month, Monk Ash'eyaa al-Makary confessed planning to murder Bishop Epiphanius along with Monk Faltaous inside the monastery.

CAIRO - 10 August 2018: MP Moustafa Bakry revealed that public prosecution decided on Sunday to hold in custody the expelled monk Ash'eyaa of the St. Macarius Monastery after he has confessed the murder of Bishop Epiphanius, head of St. Macarius Monastery.

After being hospitalized for the first time following his suicide attempt, Faltaous al-Makary returned to the monastery suffering from fracture in the spine, pelvis and legs, and several burns spread all over his body.

A failed surgery in the leg caused the deterioration of Faltaous’s leg condition leading to gangrene.

During the funeral of Bishop Epiphanius, Pope Tawadros II said that the late bishop was an ideal priest, adding that he wrote many books in different fields of knowledge.

Pope Tawadros also added that he always used to consult Bishop Epiphanius in different issues due to his extensive knowledge. The pope pointed out that he tasked Bishop Epiphanius with attending conferences; the late bishop attended 20 conferences in five years.

"He was simple in his clothes, his house and his food. Bishop Epiphanius was very simple and he preferred to sit in the last rows," Tawadros said.